"The water was very high, his armour was heavy, and his wound pained him severely; but he kept on. The blood ran down upon his hands, and he sank again and again; but he still swam on till not only the Romans, but the great army on the other bank cheered him and prayed for him.
"And when he finally clambered out upon the shore, weary and weak and worn, they shouted and clapped their hands for very joy." The ringing words came involuntarily to Miss Billy's lips:
"'And still his name sounds stirring
Unto the men of Rome,
As the trumpet-blast that cries to them
To charge the Volscian home;
And wives still pray to Juno
For boys with hearts as bold
As his who kept the bridge so well
In the brave days of old.'"
"And the big army didn't ever get in?" asked Frank Murphy.
"No, never."
"What did they do to Horashuss?" inquired Launcelot.
"Oh, they gave him a lot of land, for his own, and they set up a great statue of him."
"I seen statutes already," said Abraham Levi.
"You did not," said his brother Aaron.
"I did too. I seen 'em in the summitery."